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HYMN OF 
FREE PEOPLES TRIUMPHANT 

HERMANN HAGEDORN 





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By Hermann Hagedorn 

Barbara Picks a Husband 

Faces In The Dawn 

Makers of Madness 

The Great Maze — The Heart of Youth 

Where Do You Stand? 

You Are The Hope of The World 



HYMN OF 

FREE PEOPLES 

TRIUMPHANT 



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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

HEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Lttx 

TORONTO 



HYMN OF 

FREE PEOPLES 

TRIUMPHANT 

BY 

HERMANN HAGEDORN 



NEW YORK 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1918 
All Rights Reserved 



COPYRIGHT, I918, BY THE OUTLOOK COMPANY 

COPYRIGHT I918 

BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

SET UP AND PRINTED 

PUBLISHED 1918 



^ 






OEC -6!9!8 



©CJ.A5()8402 



The author is indebted to the editors 
of The Outlook for permission to reprint 
these verses, which originally appeared 
in their columns. 



HYMN OF 

FREE PEOPLES 

TRIUMPHANT 



Knowest thou not this of old, since man was 
placed upon the earth. 

That the triumphing of the wicked is short, 
and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? 

Though his excellency mount up to the 
heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; 

Yet he shall perish forever like his own dung: 
they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? 

He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not 
he found: yea, he shall be chased away as a 
vision of the night. 

I would seek unto God, and unto God would 
I commit my cause 

— Book of Job 



HYMN OF FREE PEOPLES 
TRIUMPHANT 

Out of the depths of defeat, thou hast 

raised us, O God! 
Our enemies came upon'ius, like thieves 

they came. 
Like waters that burst the sluice, like a 

down-storming flood. 
Like fire on the hills, flaunting to heaven 

the flame; 
Out of the north like the invincible sea 
Pounding with breaker on pitiless 

breaker the shore; 



[13] 



HYMN 



Out of the night like a ravisher stealthily 
Tiptoeing up the stair to an unlocked 
door — 
They crept, they came, they poured, they 
thundered, they beat. 
We fell before them, Hke mowed grass 
we went down. 
They smote us, they slew us, they tram- 
pled us under their feet; 
They stretched out their greedy hands; 
to the coveted crown 
They stretched out their terrible arms, 
bristling and vast. 



[141 



HYMN 

And thou wert with us. They stormed. 
And we stood fast. 

Out of the arms of the grave, thou hast 
drawn us, O Lord! 
We cried: "We will strike him here where 
his heart lies bare. 
He called for the sword, now shall he die 
by the sword! 
Dreamer of dreams forbidden, we come, 
beware!" 
We came, we struck, we harried, we 
plunged on. 
But the monster opened his arms, he 
opened them wide. 



[iSl 



HYMN 



And in bogs and glades by craft were we 
undone, 
And he drew us close in his terrible arms, 
and we died. 
And he smote us again; in the lowlands, 
seeking the sea, 
By the dunes and the dikes, charging, 
he came in his pride! 
And we called the fetterless ocean to strike 
for the free. 
We called our brother the sea to fight at 
our side! 



[i6] 



HYMN 

And the deep sea covered the fields as men 
cover the dead. 
And the foe came on through the waters 
and floundered and fell; 
And again he came on, singing, with Hfted 
head. 
And sank; and again he came on through 
the terrible 
Waters of death, and we met him, and 
hand to hand 
Fought in the ruins of homes; in the 
storm and the cold 
We2 grappled, we thrust, we stabbed 
through that wild lost land; 



[17] 



HYMN 

And "Calais!" he cried, and "Calais!" the 

echo rolled. 
To the ruins and blood-red waters came 

quiet at last. 
For thou wert with us. He faltered. But 

we stood fast. 

Out of the Valley of Death, Lord, thou 
hast led us! 
By the sea we lay panting with burning 
eyes; 
By the dunes, by the flooded fields, where 
the wind fed us 
Despair, and day was blacker with sur- 
mise 



:i8] 



HYMN 

Than ever night with storms, we crouched; 
but lo, 
On the plains afar, on the brown fields, 
facing the west, 
Not of dismay and imminent overthrow. 
Through the day, through the dark, we 
made a spectral guest; 
God, how we came with banners! With 
drums, we came! 
Flashing the sun back, sparkling, we 
came on! 
Our enemy fled. Down the gray gorge of 
shame 
He drew away as the dark draws away 
from the dawn. 



[19] 



HYMN 



We cried, "Now, he is ours!" but lo, in the 
north. 
Like a new spear flashing, he sprang; 
again; again! 
And back and forth we lunged; and back 
and forth 
Like wrestlers with bloodshot eyes who 
heave and strain 
At the abyss's edge, we tossed panting; we 
sprang back; 
Grappled, recoiled; grappled again; lay 
still; 
Arms locked, eye to red eye demoniac; 
Limbs lax; astir only the invincible will. 



[20] 



HYMN 



And again by the white peaks, bugles and 
victory-laughter, 
Legions of marching men, files without 
end! 
Death on the winding roads; slaughter, 

and triumph after! 
Biting winds on the passes and April after 

Where the winding roads descend. 
God, how we came with banners! God, how 
they fled. 
Crag to crag, leaping, stricken, down the 
gray slopes! 



21] 



HYMN 

We crashed upon them like waters bursting 
their bed, 
Like churning waters, whirling away 
their hopes. 
"At last! At last! Now is the end!'' we cried. 
But our enemy thrust from the dark; 
terribly he thrust. 
And we melted like snow from the gay, 
green mountain-side; 
To the icy passes we fled like windblown 
dust. 
And the foe plunged and came on; with 
thunder and flame 
He cut him a highway and paved it with 
bones and blood; 



22 



HYMN 

Of eyes and palpitant hearts that knew 
thy name, 
God, and knew love and beauty and 
fatherhood, 
An instrument to batter a bastion low 
He fashioned him there, God; and smote 
us. 

Dear Lord, 
Who knowest all things, this also thou 
dost know; 
Not lightly there we yielded to thy 
abhorred. 
He lunged, he trampled, he plunged; he 
swept us aside. 



[23] 



HYMN 

We died, we rose from the dead, we died, 
we died. 

Godf in the V alley y in the silvery canyon of 

Death, 
Thou gavest our lips water and our lungs 

breath; 
Thou gavest our eyes sweet pictures to gaze 

upon; 
Thou gavest our hearts sweet love to feed 

upon; 
Thou gavest our spirits music of thine own 

making. 
Of daylight breaking, 



[24] 



HYMN 

And slumbering birds and slumbering worlds 

awaking. 
Thou gavest our spirits food to eat. 
Bread and apples, honey and meat, 
And hands to clasp and fields to sow 
And children to fondle, as long ago. 

Thou art home-fires to them who gave and 

are done with giving. 
But a ring of ten thousand chariots thou art 

to the living! 

God, in disaster thou hast been near to us. 
We cried, "We will strike our foe by 
land and by sea; 



2S] 



HYMN 



In the narrow way, by the strait gate 

perilous, 
Where the black heart blasphemous 

Camps and breaks bread with our Lord's 
black enemy, 
We will make us a road; to his throat we 
will carve us a way!" 
Over the sea, over the wine-dark sea, 
From the ends of the earth with singing 
and banter gay 
For the love of a ravished bride, sweet 
Liberty, 



[26] 



HYMN 



We came; and round us were spectres of 
dazzling ships; 
And above us the charging and clashing 
of clamorous ghosts; 
And before us the deathless magic of 
Helen's lips 
And the deep voice of Agamemnon call- 
ing his hosts. 
Lemnos gave greeting, Samothrace a 
cheer, 
And the ashes of Ihum sang as we drew 
near. 



[27] 



HYMN 



Lord God, thou knowest that we were glad 

to die. 
Our strength, our hope, our vision of far, 

loved faces. 
Of sweet years hand in hand and eye in 

eye. 
And children and friends, old paths and 

familiar places. 
Lord, these were all we had to give; we 

gave them; 
Throwing away our dreams that we might 

save them. 



[28] 



HYMN 



We died in the sea, we died in the snares 
of the beaches; 
We died in the daffodils, when their cups 
were red; 

We died amid wails and singing and mad- 
men's screeches 
And crawHng fire and under the piled-up 
dead. 

We landed, we stormed, we stabbed, we 
pressed on, we prevailed; 

We hungered, we thirsted, we burned, we 
fell back, we failed. 



[29] 



HYMN 

God, in black days thou hast kept true to 
us! 
Our enemy laughed; he said, "They are 
babes at war. 
What are they, to match their swords 
presumptuous 
With the sword of a conqueror?" 
And he gathered his legions and smote us 
where we were weak. 
With treachery and a sword, with guile 
and a blow. 
He fell on our fields like winter and left 
them bleak. 
He came on our cities like Judgment and 
trampled them low. 



[30] 



HYMN 



We Stood, we fought; by the river, black 
with his coming, 
For a high price, we sold each drop of 
freemen's blood! 
But our foe came on with his hordes and 
his vultures humming; 
Like a glacier, darkly, like a slow-rising 
flood. 
Like a plague of locusts that leaves the 
green fields brown. 
He came; we fought in the valley, we 
poured death from the heights; 



[31] 



HYMN 

We defied the tide; the thunder we thund- 
ered down. 
But he came as the dark comes, putting 

out the Hght; 
He came as death comes, putting dreams 
to flight. 
And we fled to the mountains, we fled with 
our loves in our arms; 
Starving and bleeding, we staggered, 
with Terror behind 
Flaring to heaven, and around us the 
whirling storms 
And the snow on our loved ones lost and 
the pitiless wind. 



[32] 



HYMN 



But our foe cried, "Fools! that die for a 

phantom-light! 
Shatter your hearts , if you must . I stand . 

I am Might!" 



[33] 



HYMN 



II 



God, in defeat, in the deluge of black de- 
feat 
Thou blewest upon our courage and kept 
it burning. 
Thou wast a light along the blackened 
street; 
By empty chairs a promise of returning. 
Thou wast the sword of Liberty, agonizing, 
Thou wast the still small voice in the 
battle's din: 
**The wicked are caught in the snares of 
their own devising. 
Faint not, fight on. Only the just shall 
win!" 



[34] 



HYMN 



Thou knowest, Lord, we fought and fainted 
not. 
We suffered all things, hunger and cold 
and pain. 

Death with the huddled dead, and death, 
forgot 
In some lost crater alone with the dark 
and the rain; 

Fever and endless obeying and digging and 
carrying 

And slaughter and evil winds and gather- 
ing and burying. 

We bore them all, for something, dim- 
discerned. 



[35] 



HYMN 



That in our hearts like white auroras 
burned. 

And our enemy ravaged our fields and 

ravished our treasures, 
And he made our maidens and golden 

boys his slaves; 
And he slaughtered our babes and took our 

wives for his pleasures, 
And was king by the grace of volleys and 

open graves. 
And he sent his vultures scattering death 

at whim. 



[36] 



HYMN 

And his demon-ships to gather glory for 

him; 
And the spirits of earth and air came at his 

nod 
And blew green poisons to put out the eyes 

of God. 

Under the beak of black hours ravenous, 
God of free peoples. Thou hast been true to us! 



[37] 



HYMN 



III 



And again our enemy gathered his legions, 
and struck. 
With flashing of myriad thunders, crash- 
ing, he came on. 

And the walls of our stronghold shuddered 
and heaved and shook. 
And the solid earth churned as the sea 
in the muddy dawn; 

And plunging out of the dark as the waves 
of the sea, 

Breaker on breaker, he charged the hills of 
the free. 



[38] 



HYMN 



And the waves came, broke and ebbed, and 
other waves came. 
Up from the infinite deep, up the wild 
shore 

They cHmbed, they broke in a crackle of 
fierce flame; 
They surged, they shuddered, they 
crumbled, they were no more. 

And out of the wallowing ground like the 
dead, emerging. 

Through the fog and the snow the gray- 
green waves came surging. 



[39] 



H Y M N 



And our bodies grew faint with slaying, 
our eyes grew dim, 
And our strong walls sprang in the air 
and fell and were dust; 

And nearer and nearer the hills' shot-shat- 
tered rim 
The seething deep his terrible fingers 
thrust. 

And giddy and sick we faced the charging 
mass. 

"They shall not pass, dear God! They 
shall not pass." 



[40] 



H Y M N 



Tr'.rr.d of the free, zvhen mans zee ok bar- 

riers fall, 
Thou art a wall, great Lord, thou art a zuall! 

And we struck our enemy, struck to east 
and to west. 
Struck on the sea, struck in the huddled 
town. 
The darkness we gave no sleep, the silence 
no rest. 
Pity no bed to la}- her weariness down. 
And the battle boiled and seethed and bub- 
bled and fell 



[411 



HYMN 

In the rocking cauldron over the coals of 

hell; 
And the breath of a hundred valleys went 

out in thunder, 
And a thousand villages crumbled and 

were stamped under; 
And the strong were afraid and the weak 

met death with a shout; 
And gods, like an empty lamp, sputtered 

and went out; 
And shapes rose out of graves and dragged 

at kings; 
And hands in the dark broke the bright 

bubbles of kings; 



[42] 



HYMN 

And loud and wild on the uttermost crags 

and coasts 
Ebbed and flowed the supplications of 

ghosts. 
And hate the sower was choked by a world 

of haters; 
And monstrous offspring sprang on their 

own creators; 
And high seats toppled and proud kings 

begged for bread; 
And golden banners flared to the dawn, 

blood-red; 
And nations died and nations rose from 

the dead. 



[43] 



HYMN 



And once more our enemy flung forth his 
legions; once more 
With thundering mouths and drums and 
clattering swords 
And mad-eyed Terror with torches running 
before, 
He came, he came with his hordes! 

And he beat against us; with iron hands 
from our heights 
He hurtled us down; from our valleys on 
waves of blood, 



[44] 



HYMN 



Terribly on, through the days and the red 
nights 
He swept us like a flood. 

And the snake in the covert hissed, "Break 
and flee!" 
And the jackal barked in the dark, "He 
hangs at your throat!" 
But thy children lifted their heads, re- 
membering thee, 
And stood, and turned, and smote! 

Lord God of high heaven, sword and shield 
of the free! 



[45] 



HYMN 



Splendor, defender of light and liberty! 
Arms to the weak of arm, eyes to the dim 

of eye. 
Comfort and confidence to them that go 

to die! 
Confounder of tyranny, smiter of perfidy, 
Uplifter of burdens fallen on the way to 

thee! 
Breaker of snares, blunter of swords. 
Terror and turner of infidel hordes, 
Pursuer of the foes of light, harrier of the 

unjust, 
Trampler of the rebelHous with hoofs in 

the dust! 



[46] 



HYMN 

Driver with whips, driver with scorpions, 
Driver with thunders, terribler than guns, 
Dropper of bursting fire on the hearts of 

the proud, 
Blower of biting death on the hopes of the 
haughty-browed — 
Our enemy is shattered. 

Our enemy is flown! 
His charging hosts are scattered, 

His towers are overthrown! 
His trumpets trumpet vainly 

To stay the last retreat. 
The monstrous beast ungainly 
Lies at thy conquering feet! 

[47I 



HYMN 

Redeemer of nations, burster of prison- 
gates; 
Lifter from broken hearts of chains and 

weights; 
Feeder of famished hearts, joiner of hands, 
Returner of exiles from aUen strands; 
Bringer of morning, bringer of air, 
Kindler of laughter in ashes of despair! — 
Preserver! Glorious! 

From the hills and the crashing sea, 
Thy freemen, victorious, 
Jubilantly run to Thee! 
Not with shouting and singing, - 
Exultant trumpet or drum, 



[48] 



HYMN 

But with hearts like church-bells ring- 
ing, 
Conqueror, we come! 
Devouring fire, invincible light! 
Builder of dawn on the ruins of night! 
Builder with music of the crystal halls of 

day, 
God, we are Thine! Command and we 
obey! 



[49] 



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